


like a hand and a glove

by 13luckystars



Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Implied homophobia, M/M, Mara is a good mom, Teen!Ty, Teen!Zane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26904967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13luckystars/pseuds/13luckystars
Summary: Ty wants to show Zane he loves him, so he does what every love sick teenager does: defaces the town water tower.
Relationships: Mara Grady & Ty Grady, Zane Garrett/Ty Grady
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	like a hand and a glove

“And now, in lighter news, we take you to the water tower where, overnight, it gained some artwork.”

Ty heard the words from the television in front of him, but refused to look up from his textbook. His face went hot and the words on the page swam around, making it impossible to take anything in. How could he expect to study when he was expecting to get ranted at by his mother at any moment?

“It’s sweet, isn’t it Bill?” one of the other newscasters asked the first. “Young love and all that.”

Ty could imagine the way they smiled, the way they were picturing the captain of the football team climbing up to the water tower, filled with adrenaline and holding a green canister of spray paint, going up there to write out his love for the pretty blonde head cheerleader. If it wouldn’t break his loose cover, Ty would have scowled at them. He knew what they were assuming those initials meant, but they were  _ wrong _ . And he wished more than anything that he could tell them just how wrong they were.

“It is sweet, Jean. I remember how I felt at that age. I would have done it too, if I thought I wouldn’t get into big trouble at home.”

The two laughed, lost in their memories and just how  _ sweet _ the tagging of the water tower was.

Ty scowled. He couldn’t help it.

In an instant, the room went quiet, and Ty knew what a problem that was. He grimaced, knowing his mom would be coming for him at any moment.

“Beaumont,” his mom said, coming to stand right in front of Ty. He could just see her feet, but he could imagine the stance she was taking; he had seen it enough times to know without seeing it.

Since she had just been in the kitchen, she would probably have a kitchen towel in one hand, and would definitely have the other hand on her hip. She would have an eyebrow cocked. Her mouth would be pressed into a tight line, showing the carefully neutral expression that meant disappointment and trouble.

“I’m trying to study, ma,” Ty tried, flipping to the next page for show.

“Don’t try to bullshit me, I know better.”

Ty looked up at his mother, seeing everything he had been expecting. He winced.

“What were you thinking?” she asked, her voice deadly calm.

“About what?”

Mara blinked at him.

“You need to be more specific, ma. I only think about very specific things.”

“Beaumont. What were you thinking, climbing the water tower and defacing it?”

“How do you know it was me?”

“I named you. Do you really think I wouldn’t recognize your initials?”

“Okay, fair point,” Ty said, looking back down at his book as his face reheated.

“And yet you still haven’t answered my question.”

“I didn’t deface it.”

“What do you call taking spray paint to it and writing yours and Zane’s initials?”

“Not defacing it. Just, adding a little something. Didn’t you hear the news? It’s sweet!”

Mara sighed, dropping her stern expression and sitting on the couch next to Ty. “It is sweet, but it’s also very illegal. You could get in serious trouble.”

“I know,” Ty said, exhausted. “I just want to have everything that everyone else gets to have.”

Mara pulled Ty into a hug, and even though he struggled, she just held tighter until he relaxed. They both knew it was for show anyway, knew it was because he was a teenager and he wasn’t supposed to hug his mom or get comforted. “I know, and I’m sorry. But right now, here, you just can’t. I hope that’ll change one day, but this is today. I just want you to be safe.”

“I know,” Ty said, muffled. “But I love him, and I want him to know that.”

Mara squeezed Ty and let go, letting him sit back up and grab his textbook back up from where it had fallen to the floor. “I’m sure he knows, without you needing to deface the water tower.”

“But now the entire town knows.”

With a sigh, Mara stood from the couch. She ruffled Ty’s hair, walking away from him and back to the kitchen. “They do. If you finish your homework, you can go see him.”

Ty had never tried to get through homework so quickly, but with that permission, he wasn’t going to wait around for his mom to change her mind. Within twenty minutes, he wasout the door, a warning from Mara to be home before curfew following him.

…

When Ty got to the water tower, Zane was waiting there for him, his hands in his front pockets, his attention up on the words spray painted in green.

Ty stalked up behind him, jumping on his back the moment he was close enough. He wrapped his arms and legs tightly around Zane, pressing his face into Zane’s neck. Ty couldn’t help it, he laughed against Zane’s warm skin.

“Did you see what I did?” he asked.

Zane nodded. “The whole town probably did.”

“They’ll probably have it painted over by the end of the week, so it’ll be fine.”

“Did your parents see?”

“Yeah, ma saw it on the news. Just said I should be more careful.”

“You should, you have a lot to lose.”

Ty squeezed around Zane and put his mouth right beside Zane’s ear. Before he had said a word, he felt a shiver go through Zane. “You’re more important than any of that.”

Zane laughed and wrapped his arms around Ty’s at his throat. “I love you too, Ty.”

For a while, the two of them stood there, looking up at Ty’s handiwork. They knew soon, if not by the end of the next day, those green words and that green heart would be gone, covered up by another layer of paint. But for that night, they could hold one another, look at their initials up on the water tower where so many other teen couples had put theirs before, and wonder if one day they wouldn’t have to hide what they were to one another.

The next morning though, the letters were still there. And the day after that. And the weeks, and months, and years after that. It became a question in the town, what spray paint had been used that night to cause it to stay so well, determined to declare their love despite the coats of paint.

Ty, on some nights, liked to think that it simply came down to his will for the paint, and his relationship with Zane, to stay.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the song John Deere Green by Joe Diffie.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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